In the previous article, I shared about the importance of the WoH ministry in our church.  The significance of the presence and role of women in church cannot be overstated.  Women in biblical times followed and ministered to Jesus and His apostles.  They made up an integral part of the New Testament churches.  Their good works are frequently mentioned, and 1 Timothy 5:9-10 provides a list of the characteristics of virtuous Christian women.  At home, they bring up children well, and they are hospitable and compassionate.  They do every kind of good works at home and in the believers’ communities.  What they do is more than their dutiful performances but their life testimonies.  There are some more matters to consider regarding women’s roles and contributions to the spiritual life at home and in the church community through WoH.

1.   Women play an important role of teaching God’s Word in private. Acts 18:26 says “And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.”  Priscilla, with her husband Aquila, privately taught a good but misinformed preacher (Apollos) the way of God more perfectly (accurately).  It means that women must be the students of the Bible.  First of all the necessity of their knowledge of the scripture is very obvious at home.  If they do not know the scriptures, then how could they complement their husbands to fulfill what God wants them to do and to be?  I think of a husband and wife team in Acts 5 – Ananias and Sapphira.  Both perished under God’s judgment.  Read how Peter spoke to Sapphira in Acts 5:9a, “… How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit….”  The heart of Ananias, Sapphira’s husband, was filled with lies to the Holy Spirit.  His wife, Sapphira, agreed with him and lied to the Holy Spirit and both perished and their names are written in the Bible for our learning.  If women do not learn from the scriptures, how could they nurture, educate, and direct their children to follow Christ?  What values do they impart into the hearts of their children if they do not know the will of God in the scriptures?  How can they be virtuous women without knowing the scriptures?  Secondly, women should know the scriptures in order to strengthen and encourage other women to be in the Lord and to grow in the knowledge of the Saviour.  If someone comes to them for advice, for example, how can they advise her if they do not know the scriptures?  Isn’t it a fearful thing that they advise her with their own human ideas?  Isn’t it a way to weaken their own church and bring a wandering soul into downturn?  Younger women must study the Bible in order to be godly and spiritual influencers for their families at home and to be mentors to even younger ladies than themselves.  Of course, knowing the scriptures will edify them to be godly, spiritual, and virtuous women. 

It is not strange to hear that wives/mothers are homemakers.  When they are in peace, the whole family is in peace.  When they are happy, the whole family is happy.  The Lord has given such capacity to the female members of humanity.  Then how could our believing women be in peace and in God’s blessings, which will bring peace and God’s blessings to their homes?  2 Peter 1:2 says, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.”  The knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord multiplies grace and peace.  Proverbs 31 is well known for “virtuous women.”  Verse 30 says, “Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.”  The fear of the Lord refers to godly and spiritual reverence.  How could women have godly and spiritual reverence without knowing God?  Thus, their personal meditation of God’s Word and systematic study of the Scriptures from reliable teachers of the Bible are spiritual essentials to women in Christ. 

2.   Women are expected to teach other women.  Titus 2:4 says “That they (older women) may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.”  Paul commands older women to train younger women in Christian living.  We must be aware that Christian mentorship is needed for everyone.  Older women (mature and spiritual women) teach younger women: women ministering to women.  In order to do so the older women should be equipped for the task of leading the younger women, which requires them to have been mentored and trained by older women in their younger years.  Titus 2:3 says, “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things.”  In other words, not all older women were chosen for the task.  The privilege of this ministry is based on certain qualifications.  They are the ones who have invested their time to be godly in all aspects of their life and behaviour, from the supermarket to the prayer meeting.  They must be the ones who can control their tongues.  Thus, they are not slanderers or gossips.  They must be counted on to hold their tongues with the confidence of younger women.  They do not spread their grievances and complaints by which they discourage younger ones from getting involved in the Lord’s work.  “Not given to much wine” may be applied not only to alcohol but to any kind of addiction.    It could be anything that robs them of time and energy, which could include excessive shopping, entertainment, using the internet, or even exercise.  They ought to be teachers of good things.  It means they are teachers of what is good.  Their role is like a “fanning of the flame.”  Thus, they encourage the young women to keep up the good work. 

There are things that younger women must learn from older women.  Verses 4-5 say “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”  Older women teach younger women, and the word “teach” is also translated as “train.”  The Christian women do not form their own ideas and thoughts of biblical and spiritual virtues by themselves, but there are things they must be taught.  The word for “discreet” is interesting.  It literally means “self-control.”  I think that if we put them all together, it could mean that they are brought to their senses.  Thus, their advice and encouragements for others cannot but be sensible.  It is easy for older women to rely on their own experiences which are also affected by their spiritual immaturity and weaknesses.  It is more than possible that their best advice is the outcome of their own spiritual immaturity, by which they mislead younger women into wrong ways and make the younger ones just like themselves, if not worse.  We may find the same analogy from the Lord’s rebuke of the Pharisees and the scribes in Matthew 23.  Verse 15 says “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”  The older women must be godly and spiritual, and they should be biblically minded people.  They could attain to that spiritual growth by learning and being trained during their younger years.  Younger ladies must learn how to serve the Lord and to conduct themselves at home. 

In particular, it is interesting to see that older women should teach the younger women to love their husbands and their children.  Young wives and mothers should be taught how to love their husbands and children.  Is it strange to your minds that younger women must learn such a thing from older women who are godly and spiritual?  I’ll stop here, but before I let you go from this article, I need to remind you that the purpose of doing it is not for the Word of God to be blasphemed.  The main purpose of the WoH is to fulfil the Pauline instructions in Titus 2:3-4. 

Lovingly,

Your Pastor

More Lively Hope

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